<VV> windshield seal

[henry kaczmarek]

Hi
I worked for Steele Rubber for 7 years, but am no longer employed by them as 
of last month.

It's VERY possible that you have a mispackaged or an improperly manufactured 
gasket.

For future reference, if it takes you more than 30 minutes to get a gasket 
ready to install, time to stop and call the company.


Just call Steele at their 800 number. When the announcement comes on, press 
3 on your phone. The prompt will ask you to put in your extension at that 
time. Put in 213.

That will get you to Trent Poole, who is a technical support person.  Trent 
is very knowledgeable with identification of installation issues.

I have copied him on this message, and he may already have things looked up 
by the time you call.  He works from 9-6 on Friday.

When you bought the gasket has no effect on issues regarding quality/defect 
or mispacked parts returns.

Best Regards
Hank Kaczmarek


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Geoffrey Stozek" <gjjs at att.net>
To: "henry kaczmarek" <kaczmarek at charter.net>
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 12:19 AM
Subject: windshield seal


In 2010 I purchased windshield weather stripping from Steele for a 62 wagon
(order no. 100601770). Installation was delayed as I searched for 
replacement
stainless trim for some pieces that needed to be replaced. Having found the
needed trim I finally was able to attempt the installation today.
Unfortunately, after four hours I gave up. Possibly, I was sent the wrong
weather stripping or a defective one.
Although it took much effort I was able to install it on the glass. However,
it is impossible to install the trim. The "L" grove the trim fits in does 
not
extend far enough into the corners. Also, I believe on the original GM 
rubber,
the side sections are not uniform in cross section from top to bottom. They 
are
larger at the bottom. Correspondingly, the "L" of the trim on the side 
pieces
is deeper on the bottom. The difference is a full eighth of an inch. Steels
cross section for this section is the same, top and bottom. This causes the
lower end of the side trim to stand tall from the rubber when it should lay
flat. I ordered from Steele in part because I saw discussions on VV in which 
a
competitors product was criticized because the trim would not fit without
trimming part of the "L" off of each end of each piece of trim. Someone else
said they had no such poblem with rubber from Steele. I will not cut the
stainless trim. It may be possible to cut the "L" in the rubber to allow the
trim to fit but I'm reluctant to try that. I fear that may result in having 
to
use silicone to make it water tight. If I'm going to use silicone I'll just
clean the old GM rubber which fits perfectly. I've done a number of
windshields using GM rubber and they are easy to work with. Installation,
excluding cleaning the windshield and trim, is only about an hour. The four
hours I spent trying to install the Steele rubber and trim was frustrating.
I look forward to any help you can provide.
Jeff Stozek